Fontana: JTG Racing, McDowell race report

Promising Day for McDowell Goes Up in Smoke
Michael McDowell and his Pacific Packaging Group team were excited about
their prospects for Saturday night's race in Fontana California and
with good reason. McDowell had practiced consistently in the...

Promising Day for McDowell Goes Up in Smoke

Michael McDowell and his Pacific Packaging Group team were excited about
their prospects for Saturday night's race in Fontana California and
with good reason. McDowell had practiced consistently in the top 10
fastest cars during the pre-race practice sessions and backed it up with
a strong 3rd place qualifying run.

As the race began, McDowell reported that the car was extremely tight.
He fought the ill-handling car until the first pit stop so that Crew
Chief Gene Nead could work on the chassis set-up. "The car
didn't' want to turn when we started the race. Gene made an
aggressive adjustment during the first pit stop, and it made a big
difference. The car was just starting to come to me when suddenly there
were flames all around me in the cockpit. I was looking forward to
burning up the track tonight, but I didn't mean it literally."

An oil line was the culprit, an inexpensive part that ended a promising
day. Crew Chief Gene Nead reflected on the results, "We had a fast
race car all weekend and it's disappointing to not finish a race due
to a mechanical failure. We'll regroup for Las Vegas. I'm
really excited about the car that we've built for next week's
race and expect it to be even faster than the car we raced tonight."

The 36th place finish leaves the JTG/Daugherty team 20th in the points
standings.